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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got into a sharp exchange with a reporter on Wednesday after being asked whether Republicans should negotiate with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to end the ongoing government shutdown.
“There was a thought from the Republicans that AOC is directing this, and she said that senators are welcome to go to her office directly. Is she driving that?” the reporter asked Pelosi.
“Why are you saying such a ridiculous thing?” Pelosi fired back.
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The reporter’s question followed Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance on MSNBC Tuesday night, where she told Republicans, “My office is open, and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly.”
Pelosi rejected the idea that Ocasio-Cortez is directing negotiations, emphasizing that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is leading Democrats in the talks.
“She’s wonderful, she’s a real team player, and the rest of that,” she told the reporter. “You started by saying Republicans say that she’s directing this. She is not, Hakeem Jeffries is, and this takes a lot of experience, a lot of unity from the caucus in terms of the point of view, and that’s what this is.”
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Pelosi added that Ocasio-Cortez is an “articulate spokesperson for her point of view” before reiterating that it is Jeffries who is directing the negotiations with Republicans.
This is not the first time Pelosi has checked Ocasio-Cortez’s influence within the Democratic Party.
Following a dispute in 2019 over a border funding bill opposed by Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive Democrats, Pelosi told The New York Times, “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world, but they didn’t have any following. They’re four people, and that’s how many votes they got.”
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In a report published by Punchbowl late last year, the outlet wrote that Pelosi was “actively working to tank” Ocasio-Cortez’s bid to become the leading Democrat on the House Oversight Committee by “making calls” on behalf of her opponent, the late Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia.
Ocasio-Cortez ultimately lost her bid by a margin of 131 to 84 in a secret ballot vote taken by the Democratic caucus.